The present invention relates to a card convey device for conveying a card and, more particularly, a card convey device applied to a card issue apparatus for recording value information on a card to issue the card.
A card issue apparatus of this type for magnetically recording value information on a magnetic card to issue the card comprises a card accumulating section for accumulating a large number of non-recorded cards on which no value information corresponding to prepaid information are recorded, a card loading section for loading the non-recorded cards fed from the card accumulating section, a recording/reproducing section for recording/reproducing information on/from the non-recorded cards loaded by the card loading section, a selector section which is controlled on the basis of non-defective/defective information reproduced from the recording/reproducing section to sort the cards into non-defective cards and defective cards, a card storing sections for respectively accumulating the non-defective cards and defective cards sorted by the selector section, and a control section for controlling a card issue operation.
In the above arrangement, when a predetermined number of non-recorded cards are accumulated in the card accumulating section, and a card issue operation is performed, the non-recorded cards are loaded by the loading section one by one at predetermined intervals, the loaded non-recorded cards are conveyed through the convey paths of the card loading section, the recording/reproducing section, and the selector section at a predetermined speed.
When the card loading section loads one of the non-recorded cards, the card loading section detects a common bar code attached to the loaded non-recorded card to check whether value information can be recorded on the non-recorded card. If the value information can be recorded on the non-recorded card, the recording/reproducing section records predetermined value information corresponding to a prepaid amount on the non-recorded card, and reproduces the recorded value information. The control section checks on the basis of the reproduced information of the card from the recording/reproducing section whether the card is non-defective or defective, thereby controlling the selector section. In the selector section, if the card is a non-defective card, the card is exhausted and stored into a non-defective card storing section in the card storing section through a convey path for a non-defective card; if the card is a defective card, the card is exhausted and stored into a defective card storing section in the card storing section through a convey path for a defective card.
However, in a conventional card issue apparatus for performing a series of card issue processes, when a card is jammed in a card issue process, i.e., when jam occurs and the card is not conveyed, convey of the card is immediately stopped, and occurrence of a defective card is informed. In addition, a large number of rollers of the convey paths for conveying the card are manually rotated clockwise and counterclockwise by an operator, thereby exhausting the card left in one of the convey paths. For this reason, the operating efficiency of the card issue apparatus deteriorates, and the operator must perform cumbersome operations.